(Written by Girls Friday/Results BBU)

(Free Agent vs Free Agent)

Intro:
The opening of tonight's card in the Copper Box Arena sees Dua Lipa and Elisabetta Canalis fight, Dua looking to continue her impress start to her career against the tough veteran.
Dua is 22 years old, stands 5'8 and holds an unbeaten record of 4 wins, all by knockout.
Elisabetta is 39 years old, stands 5'7 and holds a record of 7 wins, 6 by knockout and 13 defeats.

Both are interviewed at their gyms, with Dua saying to the press "I am of course loving the BBU so far, this is another step up the ladder for me as Elisabetta is much more experienced and has given some good fighters real trouble"
Smiling as she continues "but I feel I am learning new things each time I step into the gym and feel like I am becoming closer to being a top fighter each time I step into that ring, soon I hope to be the champ around here but plenty of work to do first"
While Elisabetta looks also to be cool as she says "this Dua has done a lot in her music career, I mean I hear she is winning many awards"
Clenching her fist for the camera, she adds "but she has never truly been hit in my eyes, I am going to beat her with this and my smarts, so don't count this old lioness out yet"

Fight night; Dua coming out to a loud cheer, the London native grinning as she heads to the ring with her coach in tow, she high fives some of the younger fans in the crowd around ringside.
Stepping into the ring and warming up in her corner, her attire consists of a white sports bra, matching trunks with black strips down the sides, black gloves and boots, while her hair is braided.
Now out comes Elisabetta; while she doesn't get a friendly welcome, she still smiles as she heads towards the ring, her eyes though are locked onto the ring and Dua as she pictures beating her.
Soon enough she steps foot in the ring and nods towards the crowd as she heads for her corner, her attire is a dark blue sports bra, matching shorts with a white waistband, she has white gloves and shoes, while her hair is in a simple ponytail.
Both women are brought to the ring centre by the referee, neither woman is looking at the other with any real malice, confident smiles on their face as they look each other over.
Asked to touch gloves, the girls nod at each other and respectfully touch gloves, before heading to their corners so they can start 10 rounds of lightweight action.

Round 1:
Out come the fighters opening with their jabs, as expected Dua is the quicker on her feet, dancing around Elisabetta and slinging her jab at her.
But if Dua though it would be as easy to hit her as previous opponent's, she is finding out it isn't as Elisabetta shows a tight defence, with Canalis able to counter with straight punches through gaps left in Lipa's defences.
Dua looking a little frustrated as she boxes on the outside, having to change up her punches to land cleanly, with Elisabetta still showing her smarts to box off the backfoot.
Till she parries a left cross by Dua and steps in to bang two shots to the body, before ducking under a left cross and adds another right onto the ribs of the youngster to force her to step back.
Dua now on the back foot as Elisabetta works behind her jab to keep the guard high as she targets the body with her right.
Several punches testing the abs of Dua, who looks annoyed behind her gloves as she needs to use her footwork to get out of the firing line of the veteran.
Dua manages to catch Elisabetta out late in the round as she throws a left feint up top and comes back with a right to the body and lands a left around the guard of her opponent.
Elisabetta showing patience though as she moves back and works out her guard as Dua hunts her down, the bell rings with Dua having to nod at Elisabetta to show respect for her skills.
The Londoners corner team telling her "we told you she wasn't going to be a pushover" as Dua nods in agreement and is glad to have a moment to think.
While in the opposite corner; Elisabetta takes on water and listens closely to her coach, knowing that she outsmarted Dua but wondering how long that will last before she has to use her power.

Round 2:
The Italian comes out again looking to counter punch Dua, who seems wiser to it and leads to surprisingly quiet opening, Dua though soon realises that Elisabetta will happily sit back all night so pushes forwards.
Elisabetta looks comfortable early with several of her punches finding Dua's lips, moving on the outside of the ring and making her opponent chase her down.
But Dua uses her skills, moving her head and parrying the punches from the model so she can move to the inside and hammers two straights to the top of Elisabetta's head.
That forces Elisabetta to trade with Dua, the youngster showing her power and quick hands to land the better shots in this exchange, leading to Elisabetta needing to clinch up to stop getting her head rocked around.
The referee breaks them apart; with Dua quick to reengage, not wanting Elisabetta to get settled as she strikes with a double jab onto the nose of her opponent and a right to the body.
Elisabetta needing to show her toughness as she is backed to the ropes with the jab now finding a hole through her mitts onto her face.
Dua forcing her around the ring as the crowd cheer the local lass on, Elisabetta only able to land a few punches in return as she is mostly pinned behind her guard.
The bell rings with momentum swinging over to Dua as she jogs back to her corner with her fists in the air, getting a loud reaction from her fans.
Elisabetta nods behind her; knowing that Dua definitely deserves it for now but still plans on silencing the crowd by the end of the fight.

Round 3:
Again Elisabetta sticks to the gameplan, hopefully for Dua she has fully learned as this was a tactic Elisabetta employed against Taylor Cole a few years ago, it failed that night but gave the top fighter that night trouble.
As it seems to do Dua again as she tries to catch Elisabetta out with her movement, but is finding the model can be flexible too as Dua misses with her punches and eats a right hook that looks to have surprised her.
Especially as Elisabetta comes up the middle with three punches smacking off the face of Dua to drive her back behind her guard now.
The veteran deciding to up her own tempo as she drills Dua to the body and steps back as a wild right hook comes for her head.
Elisabetta making Dua make rookie mistakes as the youngster tries to step forwards with an easily telegraphed hooking drive, that only ends up her getting caught with a double jab on her nose in reply.
The model looks to build off her success by working the body of Dua, who pushes her back though with her left forearm across her chest and lands a right to the side of her head.
Dua keeping on top of the older fighter with a straight to snap Elisabetta's head back and comes on the front foot with two more strikes that find their way through the gloves of Canalis.
The round ends with Dua tapping herself on her head as if telling herself that was a dumb round by her before her coach tells her the same thing.
Elisabetta looks more content, though the round was far from perfect after controlling most of it, she was getting knocked back more then she'd like to admit in the final part of the round, with both women staring at each other with marked up faces.

Round 4:
Dua looks to be smarter, not rushing forwards as she instead waits for Elisabetta to throw from her guard and either parries or moves her head out the way before she shows her hand speed to land to the body of Elisabetta.
Who starts to come out her shell more as she knows that she'll need to do more to win this if Dua keeps countering her.
That leads to Dua ducking under a straight and landing flush with an overhand right that spikes Elisabetta to the temple and looks to have stunned her.
Elisabetta finding herself being driven onto the ropes by a flurry of punches smacking her on her face, with sweat flying off her head.
As Elisabetta tries to clinch up; Dua smartly dances back and THEN LASHES AN UPPERCUT THAT PUTS ELISABETTA ONTO HER BACKSIDE!
The crowd roars as the ref begins to count 1....2....3...4 Elisabetta rubs her jaw before shaking her head 5...6.. She has to crawl to the ropes to start pulling herself up 7.....8 beating the count and raising her fists to show she can continue.
The referee let's her continue but she is strictly on the defensive again with Dua giving chase, the singer working the jab to try and measure up her opponent.
Then throws a right to the body and a left hook up top to open up Elisabetta, who tries to fire back at her, leading to a heated exchange.
But Dua easily subdues her opponent with a left across the head to turn it, then follows with two more punches that opens up a small cut under the right eye of the Italian.
Who covers up as she is beaten towards the ropes, Dua targeting the body with thudding shots that mark Elisabetta wince.
The bell rings to save the veteran from more punishment for now, she is looking at the canvas as she heads back to her corner, with her coach needing to work on patching her up.
Dua meanwhile has a cruel look on her face as she looks down at her bloodied gloves, her coach tells her "keep your focus OK! She still has a punch in her, so don't let it be one that ends your night!"

Round 5:
Dua is visibly the quicker across the canvas, with both fighters trading at first till Dua hits that cut and Elisabetta let's out a cry of agony.
Elisabetta misses with a straight punch as Dua parries it away, BEFORE CRACKING ELISABETTA ACROSS HER CHIN WITH A RIGHT AND TWO MORE PUNCHES PUTS DOWN CANALIS!
The referee nudges Dua back as she looks ready to keep punching Elisabetta and he counts 1....2....3...4 Elisabetta stirs slightly 5....6 as she tries to push herself up, she is too dazed and falls back to her side 7...8...9...10 and is counted out!

Winner Dua Lipa KO Round 5

After:
Not her best performance but a learning one for Dua as she lifts her arms up and celebrates keeping her unbeaten run alive.
Elisabetta is helped up by her coach and even Dua rushes over to help her over to her corner, with Elisabetta nodding her thanks but looking disappointed that she couldn't stop Dua.
Her coach though tells her "you fought excellent babe, Dua is just on a different path right now, but you can win again if you keep fighting smart" with Elisabetta just looking up at him questioningly, not believing that spiel right now.
Instead she with the help of her coach leaves the ring, letting Dua have her moment and just wanting to get a shower, get changed and leave the country on the first flight she can get.
While Dua bows to the crowd, happy to have won but annoyed if she is totally honest with herself for that performance.
Stepping out the ring and signing a few autographs for her fans, before heading up the ramp, she tells her coach "I'll be in the gym on Friday to begin training again" as he smiles, glad he has someone so passionate to fight.